Goosebump – Heather’s Invitation

Our Basement,

Upon first glance, we may seem like an unlikely pairing of musical polymaths. Paul Erlichman is a chess champion, always wearing his game face and thinking a few moves ahead, while Neil Rankin is more of a mad scientist, fusing together a wide range of musical ideas. Nearly a decade and many band names later, we’ve become hand-in-glove collaborators – two strong personalities with an uncanny ability to finish each other’s thoughts.

Our new record, Goosebump by Goosebump, is a distillation of lessons learned and personal growth from two years of working and touring across North America. We saw some changes along the way. Keyboardist Kirsten Dahlin Nolan left after finishing the record. We decided that our band name (Germaphobes) was bad. We stopped and started recording sessions until things felt right, eventually rolling tape at Sonology Studios.

Pretentiousness warning ahead: the chorus of Goosebump by Goosebump’s first single, “Heather’s Invitation,” derives from a similar line in Ishiguro’s book called When We Were Orphans. It’s an older guy turning away his adopted daughter’s invitation to come live with her, because he’s prideful and drawn to loneliness. Total pop song material, right? The verse chords are basically the same ELO’s “Do Ya,” which is possibly the dumbest song ever written. Guess our song is middle-brow. Oh well! Stream it through SoundCloud.

The video for “Heather’s Invitation” sprang from an idea Neil had about filming all the banal aspects of life at the dog park, and blossomed into the far more ridiculous concept of him selling a used car to Paul so that he could be a doggie chauffeur. Thanks to Noisey for the premiere:

If our previous record Fiji Whizz gave voice to our budding aspirations, Goosebump by Goosebump (Out July 6th on Pleasence Records) doubles down on the two-sides-of-a-coin approach and showcases a sense of accomplishment and identity. The true power of the songs comes from the way everyone pitches in.
Goosebump